Carnival of Feminists

Welcome to the 44th Carnival of Feminists. We're going to focus on policy, economics and feminism.

Let’s start of with traditional policy and feminism – the
law, elections, abortion, and all that good stuff. Like, how there’s so much political pandering
to the “Republican base” about being anti-choice. Mit Romney is a great example, as Our Bodies
Our Blogand Elanor Clift point out.

Part of the strategy to attack abortion rights is this
chipping away we’ve seen over the past 20 plus years, including restricting young
women’s access to abortion. Scott
Lemieux, of Lawyers Guns and Money, reviews a book about this very subject.

And really, this is all about a compromise. Compromising values for votes (you
know who you are), and compromising on rights, sometimes for money. Ann Bartow at Feminist Law Professors
discusses a legal case where the State wanted to continue selling drivers’ data
without their consent, even though there were documented cases of this data
being useful to stalkers and murderers.

What about when we don’t necessarily compromise, but when we
get suckered? Like, a joke you don’t
really think about until after you laugh? And then you realize it was
misogynistic? Kate at the Cruella-blog
talks about irony and meta-analysis, and if we excuse a whole lot of crap if
it’s “ironic” or a “joke”. And, how
things like racism and sexism are pervasive, including comedy – her arena.

Another great example is this whole rash of going to rehab
or finding God when you’ve erred. Daylight Atheism takes Catholics to task for excusing domestic
violence. Not only that, but the rash of
apologies and religious apologies makes it hard for those who do wrong to be
held responsible for their past and future infractions.

And we all know that plenty of women (and rising numbers of
men) compromise their health and fitness for looks as well as compromise
themselves to fit in. A book, Perfect
Girls, Starving Daughters, is reviewed and summarized chapter by chapter for
your benefit.

The Lizard Queen talks about Hillary
Clinton’s insistence on “safe, legal and rare” and takes her to task for saying
that pro-choice voters have gotten lazy. And while many of us, likely including
those reading this, do vote for pro-choice candidates how else do we explain the millions of votes from women who have been touched
by abortion for anti-choice candidates? It’s not the overriding voting
decision – that has to be the only answer. The reason is that the majority of voters, by definition, are in the
middle of the road, and when we are always on the defense and always letting
them frame the issue, we get painted as extremists.

Men versus Women

Anyone who reads this site knows that I talk a lot about the
HPV vaccine, it’s potential use in boys, and the fact that it causes cancers
other than cervical. Another blogger
wonders if there’s some underlying framing of the issue that makes it a women’s
issue. Why are men, and gay men, being
left out? Or, maybe it was just a question of urgency
on the part of Merck when navigating the approval process? Either way, approval for the HPV Vaccine in boys is underway, and the third generation of the vaccine, which will be therapeutic, rather than just preventative, is already in trials.

An Indian blog discusses set-asides, or quotas, for women in
the Indian Parliament. India has been
struggling with quota issues for some time now, including set-asides for people
from the lower castes. This blogger, sidhusaaheb, finds the idea of reservations insulting,
arguing that women can adequately represent herself. Interestingly, India had a woman Prime Minister in
the late 60s, although Indira Ghandi has been derided by some for her family
connections, allegedly discounting her role as an outsider to the
government.

Thankfully, Helga points out that this girls-like-pink thing
is a relatively recent social phenomenon - like engagement rings. But don’t get me started on that. More entrenched roles that we've come to accept as absolutely certainties.

And since gender roles are more malleable now, is feminism
dead? How much mentoring do young women need in this supposed age of equality? Feminism was surely needed back then, (you know, the old days when educated women were secretaries and mistresses to their bosses)
but now…well, some even argue that feminism is not just irrelevant, but harmful
to society and to blame for many of our problems.

Of course, some sex work is legal, and some is illegal, and
the debate over where that policy and legal line is drawn is a continuous
one. For women, especially, is sex work
a financially good choice? An
emotionally healthy one? Does it exploit
a gender power imbalance or help fuel it? The study cited by Cara talks about the normalization of sex work and
the market, and calls for further stigmatization

Economics

Polly at Marginal Notes, a blog I’m going to have to read
more often, has a post about economic calculations, and how that impacts
national decision making. For example,
war can be financially lucrative for a company, contributing to that country’s
economic measures like GDP and GNP. Therefore, war becomes profitable as a machine for growing the
economy. On the other hand, unpaid
housework and childcare, as we all know, are not factored into these calculations. So then, she concludes, it’s more profitable
to kill a child than care for one.

And that's all you wrote! Check the Carnival of Feminists regularly for new carnivals - there's a new one every couple of weeks.

Comments

Carnival of Feminists

Welcome to the 44th Carnival of Feminists. We're going to focus on policy, economics and feminism.

Let’s start of with traditional policy and feminism – the
law, elections, abortion, and all that good stuff. Like, how there’s so much political pandering
to the “Republican base” about being anti-choice. Mit Romney is a great example, as Our Bodies
Our Blogand Elanor Clift point out.

Part of the strategy to attack abortion rights is this
chipping away we’ve seen over the past 20 plus years, including restricting young
women’s access to abortion. Scott
Lemieux, of Lawyers Guns and Money, reviews a book about this very subject.

And really, this is all about a compromise. Compromising values for votes (you
know who you are), and compromising on rights, sometimes for money. Ann Bartow at Feminist Law Professors
discusses a legal case where the State wanted to continue selling drivers’ data
without their consent, even though there were documented cases of this data
being useful to stalkers and murderers.

What about when we don’t necessarily compromise, but when we
get suckered? Like, a joke you don’t
really think about until after you laugh? And then you realize it was
misogynistic? Kate at the Cruella-blog
talks about irony and meta-analysis, and if we excuse a whole lot of crap if
it’s “ironic” or a “joke”. And, how
things like racism and sexism are pervasive, including comedy – her arena.

Another great example is this whole rash of going to rehab
or finding God when you’ve erred. Daylight Atheism takes Catholics to task for excusing domestic
violence. Not only that, but the rash of
apologies and religious apologies makes it hard for those who do wrong to be
held responsible for their past and future infractions.

And we all know that plenty of women (and rising numbers of
men) compromise their health and fitness for looks as well as compromise
themselves to fit in. A book, Perfect
Girls, Starving Daughters, is reviewed and summarized chapter by chapter for
your benefit.

The Lizard Queen talks about Hillary
Clinton’s insistence on “safe, legal and rare” and takes her to task for saying
that pro-choice voters have gotten lazy. And while many of us, likely including
those reading this, do vote for pro-choice candidates how else do we explain the millions of votes from women who have been touched
by abortion for anti-choice candidates? It’s not the overriding voting
decision – that has to be the only answer. The reason is that the majority of voters, by definition, are in the
middle of the road, and when we are always on the defense and always letting
them frame the issue, we get painted as extremists.

Men versus Women

Anyone who reads this site knows that I talk a lot about the
HPV vaccine, it’s potential use in boys, and the fact that it causes cancers
other than cervical. Another blogger
wonders if there’s some underlying framing of the issue that makes it a women’s
issue. Why are men, and gay men, being
left out? Or, maybe it was just a question of urgency
on the part of Merck when navigating the approval process? Either way, approval for the HPV Vaccine in boys is underway, and the third generation of the vaccine, which will be therapeutic, rather than just preventative, is already in trials.

An Indian blog discusses set-asides, or quotas, for women in
the Indian Parliament. India has been
struggling with quota issues for some time now, including set-asides for people
from the lower castes. This blogger, sidhusaaheb, finds the idea of reservations insulting,
arguing that women can adequately represent herself. Interestingly, India had a woman Prime Minister in
the late 60s, although Indira Ghandi has been derided by some for her family
connections, allegedly discounting her role as an outsider to the
government.

Thankfully, Helga points out that this girls-like-pink thing
is a relatively recent social phenomenon - like engagement rings. But don’t get me started on that. More entrenched roles that we've come to accept as absolutely certainties.

And since gender roles are more malleable now, is feminism
dead? How much mentoring do young women need in this supposed age of equality? Feminism was surely needed back then, (you know, the old days when educated women were secretaries and mistresses to their bosses)
but now…well, some even argue that feminism is not just irrelevant, but harmful
to society and to blame for many of our problems.

Of course, some sex work is legal, and some is illegal, and
the debate over where that policy and legal line is drawn is a continuous
one. For women, especially, is sex work
a financially good choice? An
emotionally healthy one? Does it exploit
a gender power imbalance or help fuel it? The study cited by Cara talks about the normalization of sex work and
the market, and calls for further stigmatization

Economics

Polly at Marginal Notes, a blog I’m going to have to read
more often, has a post about economic calculations, and how that impacts
national decision making. For example,
war can be financially lucrative for a company, contributing to that country’s
economic measures like GDP and GNP. Therefore, war becomes profitable as a machine for growing the
economy. On the other hand, unpaid
housework and childcare, as we all know, are not factored into these calculations. So then, she concludes, it’s more profitable
to kill a child than care for one.

And that's all you wrote! Check the Carnival of Feminists regularly for new carnivals - there's a new one every couple of weeks.